LAGOS MARCH 19TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The Federal Ministry of Finance on Friday confirmed the indefinite suspension of the Executive Secretary/Director General of The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Mrs. Nellie Mayshak and three other senior staff of the Directorate.
Mayshak was placed on suspension by the Honourable Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and a Director from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has been appointed as acting Executive Secretary/Director General.
The Ministry said the suspension, which is a normal civil service procedure is to pave way for an unimpeded investigation into the activities of the directorate under the watch of Mrs Mayshak.
While the Ministry assures pensioners that the suspension will not affect pension payment and services, it promises to make public, the findings of the investigative panel on the issues leading to the suspension.
PTAD was established in August 2013 under the Pension Reform Act of 2004 to oversee the management of pensions under the defined benefit scheme for pensioners not transiting to the defined contributory scheme.
In another development, the Finance Ministry said it had Improved Mechanism to Enhance Transparency in Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
A statement from the office of the Ministry of Finance signed by Festus Akanbi SA Media to Honourable Minister of Finance, Federal Ministry of Finance said in order to improve accountability, the Federal Ministry of Finance has disclosed that it had taken steps to strengthen and increase the capacity of the Post-Mortem sub-Committee of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
He said this was sequel to the approval at the last FAAC meeting that three independent and experienced financial analysts who will work on the process of reconciliation, be appointed.
The Ministry explained that the Post-Mortem Sub-Committee is to enhance accountability, improve reconciliations and ensure transparent process in respect of all the revenues accruable to the Federation Account.
The sub-committee is saddled with the responsibility of examining the books of accounts of all revenue agencies including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIIRS), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC`),the Customs Service, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Ministry of Mines and Steel. It is expected to report deficiencies observed to the Federation Account Committee and recommend the way forward.
Though the un-reconciled differences are no longer there, with the increased oversight of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the transparency of the NNPC, it will be easy for the sub-committee to achieve better results. The committee, which reports to the Federation Account on a monthly basis, was originally set up to encourage revenue reconciliation and block leakages through the use of technology.
The NNPC had rejected the findings of the audit report submitted recently to the National Assembly by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, stating that the audit query it raised over the non-remittance of N3.235 trillion to the Federation Account was erroneous. The corporation had insisted that its balance to the federation account is N326 billion.